Calif. Rules Hitting Home For Charter Schools

Many California charter schools are facing declining enrollments and
tighter regulations this academic year, following the passage of new
restrictions on schools that cater to home-schooled students.

Roughly one-third of the state's 156 charter schools will be
affected by the changes when they take effect in January. Under a law
signed by Gov. Gray Davis in July, schools that rely on instruction
that is not classroom-based will have to limit their enrollments to
students living in the county that granted their charters or any
contiguous counties.

The law also requires that the schools provide the same amount of
instructional time as traditional schools, and that they comply with
the rules for the state's longstanding independent-study program.

Currently, only California and Alaska have charter school laws that
allow for charter schools that are mainly home-based; nine states have
charter laws that don't address home-based education, and 26 states
prohibit state-supported home-based education programs.

Justification Debated

Home-schooled students enrolled in charter programs often do their
schoolwork through some combination of home study with computers and
textbooks, time in a more traditional class, and one-on-one time with a
teacher or tutor.

Part of the original impetus for the changes in California law were
concerns that some charter schools and their sponsoring districts were
benefiting financially from such home-school-oriented charter schools.
For example, some reports said schools were enrolling students from
other districts and extracting administrative fees that exceeded actual
overhead costs.

Some lawmakers were also concerned that some home-based programs
lacked adequate instructional oversight, said California Secretary of
Education Gary K. Hart, an appointee of the Democratic governor.

"There were some anecdotes and rumors- -just a general concern that
there were abuses that were not consistent with what a public education
system should be," Mr. Hart said. "Home schooling was not something we
contemplated in the original charter school law."

But many of the state's charter school advocates say that abiding by
the state's independent-study regulations could hamper the academic
freedoms that make current non-classroom-based programs appealing to
students and families. The independent-study rules give districts the
authority to determine curriculum, for example, and mandate that
students have access to regular classrooms--a potentially troublesome
requirement for charter schools that provide most of their instruction
through distance learning.

And while the effects of the new regulations won't become fully
known until January, charter schools whose student populations extend
beyond their contiguous counties are already grappling with dropping
enrollments.

At the 350-student Prosser Creek Charter School in Truckee, for
example, 80 students who attended the school last year won't be able to
this year because they live outside Nevada County or its surrounding
counties. Those students will likely have few organized educational
options because there are no charter schools that serve home-based
students in the counties where they live, said Jayna Gaskell, the head
of school at Prosser.

'Quick Fix' Attempt Seen

Moreover, Ms. Gaskell argued, the mandate that non-classroom-based
charter programs work under the independent- study rules is a "quick
fix" that doesn't take into account the individualized curricula many
such schools use.

"I agree with the [lawmakers'] intent that there needs to be a
mechanism for accountability in home-based programs," Ms. Gaskell said.
"But they didn't take into account the reasons why these kids 350 miles
away would want to enroll in a little charter school in Truckee. They
took a pre-existing program and stuffed us into it."

Ultimately, much of the impact of the regulatory changes hinges on
how the state board of education applies the language of the
independent-study law to non-classroom-based charter schools--a process
that won't likely be completed for several months.

Until that time, advocates for the nontraditional but publicly
funded schools say they are working to counteract what they see as one
of the main reasons the legislature opted for a crackdown in the first
plan: an image problem.

"This is not about some kid in a dark room turning on a computer for
10 minutes a day," David Patterson, the director of governmental
affairs for the California Network of Educational Charters, said of the
charter programs for home-based students. "The bottom line is that we
have to demonstrate that this is a valid educational approach."

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